


With the Morning Light

by Darkhymns



Category: Tales of Symphonia
Genre: Angst, Developing Relationship, Drabble Collection, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Pining, Non-Chronological, Romantic Friendship, Slow Build, World Travel, will add tags as it goes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:34:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25029355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkhymns/pseuds/Darkhymns
Summary: "Let's go explore the new world together."A series of short stories about Lloyd and Colette's journey to gather the Exspheres.
Relationships: Colette Brunel/Lloyd Irving
Comments: 26
Kudos: 13





	1. Setting Out

**Author's Note:**

> So I very much meant to write something else. Ah well.
> 
> Each story will aim to be under 1000 words and focused on a prompt or theme. May include experimental structure, will definitely be self-indulgent. Updated whenever possible.

Lloyd asked her to meet him at noon. The words were familiar, but she knew, that unlike her, he kept his promises.

The day was bright, clear and fresh. There was something in the way the trees swayed, a strength slowly building up as the faint outline of two moons appeared overhead. She felt the wind tugging at her hair, felt the sunshine warm her skin.

Colette knew she wasn't supposed to be here.

She first saw the patterns of green and white when she walked up the makeshift bridge to Lloyd’s home, miraculously avoiding another trip into the river. Noishe was shaking out his fur as Lloyd scratched behind his ears, dust and pollen mixing into the air. Both boy and dog sneezed, Colette feeling her lips turn up in a smile at the sight.

Behind Lloyd was the gravestone, a fiery sunset laid upon its surface. The sword held such colors so carefully, warm and protective.

She wasn’t supposed to be here. And yet, here she stood, upon dirt and grass. She felt the air enter her lungs, crisp but gentle. She watched Lloyd turn from Noishe to look at her from across the way.

“Colette!” he called out. He adjusted a strap over his right shoulder, a heavy pack that didn't hinder his steps. 

Colette did something stupid then. She spoke. “I shouldn’t be here."

Lloyd didn’t halt or pause, continuing to walk up to her. His boots crunched over grass stalks and small gravel. “Hm? But you came at the right time…”

There was everything in just the way he spoke that she loved, admired. Eyes warm like the sun on her skin. His soft smile, which he still gave to her, even in his confusion. But sometimes her mind gets lost so much within itself that she’s unable to leave it. Stuck in a shell, as her body once was, her voice locked away, her memories like half-remembered dreams.

She shook her head. “I mean… shouldn’t it be someone else instead?” She looked to the side, where a laundry line was placed, overlarge shirts and blankets hanging from it to ruffle in the warm breeze. “Shouldn’t it?”

Lloyd tilted his head. He moved closer. “What do you mean?”

When she explained herself, when she  _ truly _ did, instead of practiced lies and reassurances that she once taught herself to recite to keep others from feeling down... she always stumbled, always fell over herself, as clumsy as her own feet. Yet everything in her voice still moved, falling like porcelain in patterns she could never fully know.

"Maybe Genis would be better, h-he can cook…or Sheena. She’d… know more about the world and where to go. The Professor is smart and could protect you, and Presea is kind and strong. Regal is also so brave and...and Zelos! He cares so much about you, he does-"

She’s not supposed to be here, she’s not. They had told her since she was small. Even after everything, the lessons still stick, the repeated mantra that the sun, the wind, the sky, none of it was for her.

“Colette.”

Steadiness kept her from falling. She blinked. Lloyd was holding onto her hands.

She raised her head to him, and the smile was still there. As wide as when he welcomed her back from a long silence within herself, when the dark was so encompassing. That place had been for her, until…

“I want to go with  _ you. _ ”

Perhaps she was being selfish, wanting to hear him say it, again and again.

Lloyd’s smiles had always been so infectious. And when her cheeks ached from the same, it was good. Feeling the sun, the wind, even the small pains that her body endured – it was all good.

“I want to go with you, too.” She felt the tears build up from so many months without them. She wasn’t sure how long they would keep falling.

His hands gripped hers, strong and steady. She wouldn't fall.

“Then let’s go.”


	2. Carve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lloyd's thoughts on whittling.

Lloyd always had to be careful when he whittled.

Sometimes Lloyd’s mind wandered. Sometimes it rushed away from him fast, leaving him breathless, disoriented – and most of all bored. His legs would itch to run once class was done, oftentimes leaping over the school desk and daring Genis and Colette to a race. His hands itched to grab onto tree boughs, or dig through the sand that was nearby the village, for swords were not allowed in the classroom. At least when he traveled to Iselia, he could fight against the monsters, hands occupied, hands doing useful things.

A voice that droned on in facts and numbers only made him lose connection even more, for his focus was only held on together by twigs and string, loosely tied, barely able to withstand the force of memory, or anything resembling some kind of effort that was beyond the initial stirrings in his heart. To learn was difficult, to change could almost be impossible if everything around him hadn’t shifted first.

Dirk had been the first to notice it, seeing a younger Lloyd nodding off through another vow, yet fingers forever tapping away at the wood of the table. Taking away food, or a flick across the forehead wasn’t enough to keep him stable. The boy wanted to be in one place, everywhere, to rush and find faces that he would keep within.

So one day, the dwarf had given his son a block of small wood, along with a tiny whittling knife. The blade had been dulled, barely able to even nick the skin, but the wood was soft enough for even a child to bend inward with his bare hands. Old wood, not good for preservation, moisture having gotten to it from the inside – but a good learning tool regardless.

“Sometimes we’d rather use our hands then our head,” Dirk had joked, his words plain enough that even a young Lloyd could understand and fake getting offended by. A small pout, a stick out of the tongue, yet his hands gripped his newfound hobby close.

That was many years back, and it was hard to say whether whittling helped much since then. His mind was always moving, always needing to rush. But with the knife in his hand as he attempted the shape of a face, the indent of eyes, the soft curve of hair, he could at least slow down and be careful. Once he had nearly sliced his thumb, the scar still there to remind him.

“What are you making now, Lloyd?”

He turned, too lulled by the crackling of the campfire to have heard her steps. “Uh, just, another dog probably.”

Colette’s face naturally brightened at such an answer, but he could see the next question in her eyes already. “You’re not sure?”

“I usually figure it out halfway! Maybe instead of a dog, it’s a dragon! Like that one we found at the Earth Temple!” Lloyd held up his wood block that held the shape of _something_ , still in its abstract form. “…Or it could be that shopkeeper we saw the other day.”

“Oh, or maybe it’s Dirk you’re making…or Kratos! Would you carve Kratos?”

“W-what? No way… I can never get his hair right, anyway.”

Colette giggled, so curious to see what he was creating within his hands, his thumb and forefinger pressed against its whittled down surface. “When you finish, will you show me? I was going to wash the dinner pot before the food sticks.”

“Of course I’ll show you, you dork,” he said. “And I said I’d clean up too…”

But his mind was rushing, tumbling, as it did when he felt an anxiousness that was hard to describe. Colette’s smile for him was clear, stilling him for that brief time before she finally walked away.

The wood couldn’t capture her hair just right, and it was difficult to carve the little details such as her nose and her crystal still bound around her collar. The necklace with its chain links got lost within the whorls, the surface still ragged and needing to be sanded down. And her overcoat was uneven, its design obscured by the age of the wood.

He had to be careful, or he’d cut off a chunk of her hair, her cheek, or her shoulder. But there was something about seeing her still and speechless, arms (or the vague resemblance of arms?) hanging by her sides.

Earlier in the week, she had wept. Today, she had laughed, and the campfire bounced off her hair in colors that were alive.

Lloyd put the small statue away in his bag, planning out details for a smile that was real, and eyes that could look at him and know. His mind was still rushing, still moving too fast. He needed to do something with his hands, but he had no use for his swords now, and the whittled statue held things that were still too familiar in his head.

“Colette, you forgot our forks!” Lloyd called out, gathering the utensils, and running towards the river where she had gone to wash the pot, now empty of the beef stew that he wished he could have more of.

 _“Sometimes we’d rather use our hands then our head,”_ his father had said, and he focused on Colette’s embarrassed laugh, and his hands splashing in the water as they both cleaned. He tried to forget the stillness that used to be her only future – in the new world, where the twin moons pulled at the tides, and the weather still shifted in frequency from summer to winter, he didn’t need to think on that at all.


	3. Braid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Colette knew just how careful Lloyd could be when she felt his hands sift through her hair. He spoiled her so much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trying my best to not make this collection just be all about how Lloyd is good at making things but I'm sorry it's my favorite.

“Lloyd is always so good with his hands!” Colette had once said, holding up one of the little carvings he had made for her to show off to their friends. A small replica of the dog she had named back in Sybak, its tail looking so realistic that she thought it would start wagging at any moment.

Genis had rolled his eyes at the statement, while Zelos had choked on his drink, sputtering water down his chin as he laughed. Sheena, with a flush on her face, had been ready to knock the other Chosen down, but the reaction had simply confused Colette. She tilted her head, but no answers were forthcoming, even as Raine had warned her to “Choose your words more carefully.”

But it was true, wasn’t it? Lloyd had always been good with his hands, making wonderful things; from his wood crafting, to his jewelry making, and even the little paper planes he had created one day in class because of boredom. She could only crumple up what she made in comparison, but Lloyd would smile all the same when she tried to make them fly, and instead just lobbed her papers straight in his face. (Raine hadn't been happy then either).

She thought that now, as she felt his hands sift through her hair. They were currently on a stop on their very own journey together, the sun just about setting and painting the sky red and orange. Colette couldn’t help but giggle as his fingers tickled her neck.

“Hey, what’s so funny?” he was asking her. She snuck a glance to the side, seeing him holding a hair tie between his teeth. The sight made her grin.

“It’s just been a long time since you braided my hair,” she said to him, seated perfectly still on the grass, the chirping of insects echoing around them. “Why now all the sudden?”

“Um… because I felt like it!” Lloyd answered, then went back to focusing on her hair. Fingers lifting up strands, tugging just so slightly as she felt him work at things gently. The same concentration he would give to the little woodblocks he carried in his pack, carving out the minute details. “Unless you don’t want me to?”

“Mm, maybe!” Colette faced forward, eyes staring far out into the rolling hills of the plains they had decided to make camp at. “Depends how good of a job you’re doing.”

“I always do a good job! You just watch!” And with that promise, she could feel the focus emanating from him, how he leaned forward, the now much slower movement of his hands; more careful, more precise, but still…so much like Lloyd.

She felt her face heat up, and was thankful she was facing away from him. Then she allowed herself one more indulgence, shutting her eyes and hearing his small intake of breath as he fixed her hair, as she felt him work in the small hair ties, weaving them into the strands as if they had been a part of her hair all along.

It was something he used to do when they were kids, sometimes even taking the flowers they gathered and trying to put them in her hair. Even as gentle as he was, she’d find a way to ruin it afterwards, always tripping without fail and crushing the petals of the flowers he had painstakingly braided on her.

As they got older, it was something they did less and less often. It made sense. Perhaps he got tired of her messing it up. Maybe this way, with just the hair ties she wouldn't? That she couldn’t? Was that why…

“Okay! Done!” Lloyd said, even though his hands still lingered on the back of her neck, still sifted through her hair, as if putting on the finishing touches, loathe to let it truly be done, just not yet.

Colette was curious and reached around, finding the braid already made. It felt so light too! Usually, her hair could feel so heavy and thick. “Hm, how do I see it?”

Lloyd laughed slightly, and she felt the warmth of his laughter against her now more bare neck. “Like this, you dork,” he said, and lifted her braid to drape over her left shoulder.

She didn't expect to see the dozens of flowers put into her braid, of daffodils that were a lighter shade of gold. Their inner petals were shaped like the sun.

“See? Told I’d do a good job!”

At first, she didn’t know what to say. Colette looked at them in wonder, almost fearful to trace the flowers, at the way they clung to her hair so naturally. She hadn’t even seen these types near the glade they were camping at. Had he been gathering them as they traveled? “Lloyd…”

“…Oh, do you not like it? Is the braid too tight?”

“N-No! I… really like it.” She bit her lip, looking down, worried about ruining things and- “Aren’t you worried these will fall off?”

Lloyd blinked, still slightly behind her, hands near her shoulders. “I can always just put more flowers easy enough. You know, like we used to!” Lloyd smiled, and that smile felt so bright, that she couldn’t help but stare, trying to take in that radiance. “I was kinda missing it actually…”

His positivity was always so infectious. She never even had time to question herself when he smiled like that. "Hehe...me too."

The evenings played out similarly to one another, but with small differences; how full one (or both) of the moons would be, whether the wind blew too harshly to keep up a campfire, or how closely Lloyd would set up his sleeping blanket next to hers. Some nights were also just too cold.

She wanted to watch as he got up to set things up, and she saw him in full now; jacket half-unbuttoned, the firelight shining off burnished hair. Some of the hair ties that he hadn't used were still hanging off his wrist, as easily as a bracelet.

Colette looked at him, then down at the flowers. These were handled by Lloyd, by his wonderful hands. It was true what she told him. She had missed it so much.

It was impulse. She leaned down to kiss one of the petals, quickly, almost guiltily. But he hadn’t turned to look. She let out a small breath.

Maybe he was spoiling her too much. Because a Chosen shouldn’t even have such things, should she? _But I'm not a Chosen anymore._

And Colette kept that thought close, remembering how greedy she always was, ever since they were both small.


	4. Carry Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being carried around can be more comforting than Lloyd thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These are slowly becoming over 1000 words now, please I had one job.

With a sigh, Lloyd thought,  _ I didn't want to be a burden this time. _

His breath shifted the blonde hair near his face. Colette turned, the sunlight catching off her eyes like on a river’s surface. “What's wrong, Lloyd? Is this uncomfy?”

With a start, Lloyd covered his surprise with a shake of his head. “It-It’s not a problem!” he told her, though he still tried to adjust himself while being carried on her back like this. Her hands held onto his legs tightly, and it was up to him to keep his grip on her shoulders to stay balanced. “Besides, I’m really okay enough to walk…”

“Hm? But you said your ankle hurt, didn’t it?”

“Just a little! I was just too stupid to not see that cliff.” Though he was grateful it had only been him that had tripped down across a long...very long slope and not Colette.

This wasn't exactly the first time he'd been carried; in fact, one of his earliest memories was him being perched on someone’s shoulders, head craned upwards to look at the map of stars overhead. And Dirk would always,  _ always,  _ mention to Lloyd how much he would cry as a little kid and that being held up in the dwarf's arms would be the only way to calm him down. Also, did being carried around by Noishe when he traveled in the morning to Iselia count…?

But what was important was that much of that happened when he was a kid, when he couldn’t walk as far on his own, or when, yes, some things  _ did _ scare him. But not now! He wasn’t scared of anything, or actually, anything that he could just fight off, at least.

And yet he was still laid over Colette's back like a dejected burlap sack.

“The Professor said it’s important to not put pressure on your foot if it’s hurt," Colette was saying, humming a small tune as they walked. She walked easily over pebbles and tree roots, somehow avoiding all those little obstacles then she ever had. "But I’ll try to get to the nearest town faster if you want me to!”

“Colette, that’s – Whoa!” He flinched a little when pink wings slipped through his body like he was made of air. Mana tingled across his skin like electricity, but warm and comfortable. Maybe too comfortable. “I’m…not sure I should be on your back if you’re gonna fly.”

“Oh… I guess you’re right.” Colette floated back down to the grass. “Sorry, that was silly of me.”

“I mean, it’s fine… But I also feel bad you have to carry me and all our supplies now.”

“It’s okay! None of it feels heavy at all!” Colette shifted again, and her right arm that carried the sacks of food and gels shifted along with her. “It’s all so light.”

“Even with me?” he asked. Sure, Colette did have her angelic strength still, just… “And with my swords?”

“Yeah! They’re as light as twigs.”

“Man, if my swords are twigs, they’re probably useless…”

Colette laughed, still making sure to turn back to give him a smile. “You’re funny.”

While it was true that Lloyd was definitely hilarious and often made good jokes, this wasn’t exactly the time he was trying to be funny. He had seen Colette lift up boulders, tree trunks and muscled men with only one hand – but he didn’t want to just be seen as dead weight like that.

But it was hard to argue that his foot was still hurting a bit, and even smashing an apple gel against his ankle didn’t seem to help. Also, Noishe wasn’t here to lug him around either. It was up to Colette to carry him.

Maybe he felt guilty because, at the same time, he also didn't really mind this.

So close as he was to her hair, he caught the faint shape of a flower petal, still tangled within the blonde strands. Her hair had lost its braid from a few nights ago, but some of the flowers he had put in there before remained. Not always in the exact same place, and some still looked so close to falling away… but they were there.

Lloyd unconsciously moved closer, his thumbs rubbing against her coat. “Hey, sorry if I worried you earlier.” When she had found him, he had been half-covered in dirt and leaves from his descent down the cliff. He remembered when he could simply jump down cliffs easy, not just trip over at nothing. “I feel like I’ve not been paying attention lately.”

“Hm…has the journey been hard on you?” she asked. He thought he could feel her carry him even more carefully now, but he didn’t want that!

“No, not really! Well, I mean finding the Exspheres has been harder than I thought…” He half-expected that just asking people where Exspheres were being sold wouldn’t be that easy, yet he had kinda hoped. “But, it’s been fun traveling together. Just the two of us.”

“Hm, I think so too,” she responded. “On the fun part, I mean! Sorry, that I was trouble in the beginning before we even…”

“Hey, I’m the one apologizing right now!” With that statement, Lloyd leaned over to wrap his arms more around her, getting more comfortable ( _ it's okay to be comfortable with her _ ) while leaning into her hair. “You can get your turn on apologizing later.”

“Ah, we have to take turns now?”

“Yep! And since you’re always apologizing, I need to make up for all those lost turns! It’s the rules.”

“I never knew there were rules to this!” Colette asked almost so genuinely if Lloyd hadn’t already known about her teasing ways.

“Heh, well, I did make up the rules just now,” he said back with a grin, thumb and forefinger extended next to his face. “So don't worry if you don't know them yet!”

Colette smiled at him, and that smile drew his eyes to her, made him forget for a moment on what he was about to say next…

“Lloyd?”

“Uh?” He was pulled out again from his thoughts. He'd been so out of it lately too. “What's up?”

“I know you'd rather walk but, I'm glad I can be useful on this journey.” She turned to him again. “I'm happy I can carry you the whole day if you needed me to!”

Yeah, he really didn't mind this at all.

“Well...maybe next time I don't need a sprained ankle for you to do that then..” he said, not sure where his words were leading to. Because sometimes, he just said stuff, said whatever that came to mind. It usually made people annoyed or angry at him.

But with Colette, she smiled so easily, walking with more of a bounce to her step. “Hehe. You promise that I can?”

He nodded, holding her close as she carried him - to stay balanced, to not fall. That was all. “Yeah. Promise.”


	5. Lover's Walk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lloyd and Colette visit a cherry orchard during a brief respite from their journey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *breaks the one rule of keeping stories under 1000 words at the first opportunity* ...

There was a cherry orchard in the town they had decided to visit and spend the night in.

“Perfect for a lover’s walk!” spoke the owner with a smile towards them both – or mostly towards Colette. Lloyd had gone away to question any passerby about the black market caravan they were chasing. Exspheres were more widely traded around in this area, with the town being a hot spot for much of its sales, at least in the past. It would explain why this town was richer in its structures, with wider acres to allow such growth of this certain fruit.

“Ah, we weren’t…” Colette started, but only halted when Lloyd jogged back, shaking his head.

“Sorry, got no leads there. Any luck?” he asked her.

“I was just telling this young lady you and her should take a stroll through this cherry orchard.” The owner still smiled, his straw hat shielding him from the bright sun shining down. “And if you are so inclined to purchase any of my fruits there, you can always pick what you need and bring it here!”

“Oh, but I’m not sure… And also we’re not…”

Lloyd, from what she could see, looked at the arch that led into the orchard with wonder. Twining vines encircled it, some of the ends hanging down low enough to brush against a person’s head when they walked through. “Like, we can get food from here?”

Colette didn’t understand the nervousness suddenly, so suddenly! Maybe it was the way the sun was already beginning to set, coloring the leaves around them a timid orange, or the way the owner kept smiling at them both, always at both, still gesturing for them to go through.

There were a few orchards back at Iselia, the kind that her and Lloyd would rush across, diving behind trees as they played hide and seek. The trees here were just as small, the trunks so thin – they probably couldn’t do the same thing here, and maybe shouldn’t.

Lloyd grasped her hand before she realized. He grinned at her. “Wanna check it out?”

And just like that, her nervousness was gone. Because Lloyd was with her.

The owner gave them a small woven basket, advising them to pick whatever they fancied. Colette tried not to question if the orchard was open for long hours, even as the sun continued to set. Already Lloyd was walking ahead, underneath the branches where the light played along his hair like sunbeams across a water’s surface.

“I guess it’s not much food actually… but this could be a good dessert!” Lloyd barely had to incline his head upwards to reach for what he needed. The cherries he picked were nearly the same shade as his gloves, blending in and so easy to miss if one couldn’t catch the subtle differences in color tone. They already filled his palm with the speed he picked them from the branches.

“Maybe we could make cherry sandwiches out of them!” Colette suggested, also trying to pick some from the branches as fast as he could. She saw the way he flashed his grin at her, playful and daring, and she knew already that he was trying to do this as a game between them. Determined, she reached up both hands to grab as many as she could!

…. And in her excitement, she had smushed a few cherries just between her palms. “Whoops…”

“Oh,” Lloyd intoned when he saw. Then laughed. “You’re such a dork.”

“Aw, but we have to tell the man I ruined some of the cherries…”

“I mean, I’m sure this happens all the time though!” Lloyd dumped some of what he picked into the basket still hanging from Colette’s arms. They made delightful plunking sounds against the bottom, and she could only feel a faint hint of weight from them. “We don’t even know how many you smashed into jelly.”

“Hm, but is it right to not tell? I think Dirk once said something about lying!”

“W-well, it’s not really a lie! If… they don’t ask.”

And with that, Lloyd’s face went a bit red at his slight embarrassment, making Colette feel more at ease, even though her hands were stained with red. She was careful to not accidentally touch her cheek or brush her hair. She instead held out her palms towards Lloyd. “I think he’ll know though.”

“Ah… guess you got a point.” Lloyd shrugged, walking with her still underneath another cherry tree, this one with a branch so bogged down by not only cherries but heavy leaves and the remains of an abandoned bird’s nest. “We don’t have to spend too much gald to chase after people so… it’s okay to spend a little more today!”

At that, Colette was reminded again why they were here in the first place. How right was it to take a stroll through this place, fresh summer grass and fallen cherries underneath their feet as they looked ahead? _Have I helped Lloyd at all through this journey?_

Then Lloyd was standing in front of her, grinning wide. A plump cherry was held between his fingers. “Since your hands are dirty, wanna try one? I’ll tell the guy we sampled a few, don’t worry!”

“Oh…” Colette thought on it, still holding the basket by her arm. Red like him, though maybe not as bright, maybe not as warm as what seeing him always did to her. “You sure?”

“Yeah!” he said, and she only saw a hint of something in his eyes, as russet brown as the earth, before he leaned in and pressed the cherry fruit to her lips. She could still feel the heat of his hand through his glove, just enough, contrasting with the cool skin of the cherry.

“Mm!” She smiled, loving the sweetness, possibly one of the sweetest cherries she had ever tasted. Not too tart to betray its over-ripeness, and not too bitter. As if they had been plucked at just the right moment. “It’s so yummy!”

“Yeah? Dang, I wanna try one now.” Just as Lloyd went to reach for another cherry from that heavy bough, Colette shook her head.

“I got it! I wanna feed you! Here!” Colette quickly reached into her basket, grasping more than one cherry.

“Wait, Colette, that’s too much-! Mmf!”

Two or perhaps cherries she had just shoved into his mouth. Her fingers brushed his warm lips, but even in her enthusiasm, he took what she gave. His breath fell over her skin, the gentle swipe of his tongue. She lingered for a moment before she finally pulled her hand back.

“Ah! I got red all over your face…” Colette whined, though it was only partly true. The mess of the fruits she had handled earlier were still on her hands. She felt so stupid. How could she have already forgotten it?

Like someone had just smeared his mouth with red paint, Lloyd stood there in front of her with the mess so plain on his face. But he was still busy eating the cherries she had fed him, then smiled as he licked his lips. “Hey, it really is sweet!”

And just like that, her worries washed away. “Yeah… I told you!”

Despite the fact that it looked like Lloyd had bitten straight into a cherry pie, he didn’t seem to mind. He leaned in again, just a fraction, as he took a cherry from Colette’s basket and plopped it in his mouth. “We should come back here. Maybe when we’re done with our journey!”

That would not happen for so long, if ever. But she nodded, her voice optimistic. “Definitely!”

Because even with the deepening shadows from the setting sun, she felt comfortable, she felt warm, with Lloyd by her side. She still felt the sweetness of the cherries on her tongue, and the warmth all across her fingers. _One day, I hope we can._


End file.
